![Jet suit flyer](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Jet_suit_flyer.jpg)
The Daedalus Flight Pack is a
jet suit
A jet pack, rocket belt, or rocket pack is a device worn on the back which uses jets of gas or liquid to propel the wearer through the air. The concept has been present in science fiction for almost a century and became widespread in the 1960s. ...
capable of flying, hovering and powered jumps. It was created by British inventor
Richard Browning, an athlete and Royal Marine Reservist. The Daedalus is different from other manned portable flight packs in that it uses additional jets attached to the hands. These enable it to be directed by moving the arms.
Name
The jet suit which Browning developed was named the Daedalus Suit, a name chosen by Browning's son when he was aged eight, in reference to
Daedalus
In Greek mythology, Daedalus (, ; Greek: Δαίδαλος; Latin: ''Daedalus''; Etruscan: ''Taitale'') was a skillful architect and craftsman, seen as a symbol of wisdom, knowledge and power. He is the father of Icarus, the uncle of Perdix, an ...
of Greek mythology, although the name is not used on the company's website.
History
Richard Browning first started work on the project in the year 2016. The suit has been likened to the comic character
Iron Man
Iron Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby. The charact ...
. Browning formed his own company, Gravity Industries, and used his own funding for development work. The first published test flight was revealed at the 2017 TED conference in Vancouver. Browning experimented with different numbers, configurations and arrays of jets, with varying degrees of success, before coming up with his current configuration. While initial funding came from Browning himself, since the success of the project, he has received promotional support from the
Red Bull
Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks of Austria, Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With 38% market share, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2019. Since its launch in 1987, more than 100 billion cans of Red Bull have been sold worldwid ...
energy drink company.
In September 2020, it was reported that the
Great North Air Ambulance
The Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) is a registered charity and air ambulance based in the United Kingdom. It operates a dedicated helicopter emergency service for the North of England with three aircraft. It serves North Yorkshire, ...
service was considering using this jet suit to enable
paramedic
A paramedic is a registered healthcare professional who works autonomously across a range of health and care settings and may specialise in clinical practice, as well as in education, leadership, and research.
Not all ambulance personnel are p ...
s to reach casualties in the mountainous
Lake District
The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, forests, and mountains (or ''fells''), and its associations with William Wordswor ...
.
By March 2022 the operational director of the GNAA, Andy Mawson, had been trained to fly and the service hoped to start using jet suits in summer 2022.
Technical specifications
The jets and powerpack are affixed to the wearer with metal frames; it uses five
micro-gas turbines - two on each arm and one on the back. Their power is , with the turbines running at 120,000 rpm. The unit weighs and has a maximum flight time of 10 minutes, with a current speed record of . The flight pack can reach altitudes of . Though its envisaged that in normal use, it would be flown at only three or four metres above the ground.
Projected initial cost for purchase is US$250,000, although this projection is expected to come down after full production. Browning says of the technology: “Our mission is to build an inspirational technology company by re-imagining the future of human flight and pioneering aeronautical innovation.” The flight pack incorporates a
heads up display
A head-up display, or heads-up display, also known as a HUD (), is any see-through display, transparent display that presents data without requiring users to look away from their usual viewpoints. The origin of the name stems from a Aircraft pil ...
which displays for the user operating information, including top speed, fuel left, etc.
General
Gravity Industries have said that they will require the user to be vetted before use. In 2017, the Daedalus flight pack set a speed record for flight packs, at 32.02 miles per hour (51.53 kilometers per hour), awarded by the ''
Guinness Book of Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
''. In 2020, YouTuber
Colin Furze
Colin Peter Furze (born 14 October 1979) is a British YouTube personality, stuntman, inventor, and filmmaker from Stamford, Lincolnshire, England. Furze left school to become a plumber, a trade which he pursued until joining the Sky1 programme ...
, known for wacky inventions and functional interpretations of movie props, video game gadgets, and other fictional devices, was given the opportunity to learn how to fly the flight pack. He made a video where he showed the process of learning to fly it, then strapped a ''
Back to The Future Part II
''Back to the Future Part II'' is a 1989 American science fiction film directed by Robert Zemeckis from a screenplay by Bob Gale and a story by both. It is the sequel to the 1985 film ''Back to the Future'' and the second installment in the ' ...
'' hoverboard onto his feet so he could "hoverboard".
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